President Barack Obama has announced the nomination of prosecutor Loretta Lynch for his next Attorney General replacing out going AG Eric Holder.

Lynch, 55, is a low-key prosecutor with deep experience in both civil rights and corporate fraud cases.

The announcement was made at the White House by President Obama, He was joined by Attorney General Holder and Ms. Lynch.

“I couldn’t be more proud to nominate Loretta Lynch as our next attorney general,” Obama said during the brief White House ceremony.

The president cited Lynch’s successful efforts as U.S. attorney for eastern New York in prosecuting terrorists, mobsters and Democratic and Republican public officials.
“It’s pretty hard to be more qualified for the job than Loretta,” Obama said.
“No one gets to this place — this room, this podium this moment — by themselves,” Lynch said Saturday in thanking the president, Holder, her New York colleagues, family and others.
“I will wake up every morning with the protection of the American people my first thought,” said Lynch, who must be confirmed by the Senate to get the job.
Lynch is the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, would be the first African-American woman to hold the job if confirmed by the Senate.

President Barack Obama was coy before the official announcement when asked by a reporter if he’d settled on a particular candidate.

Many expect Lynch to generate little controversy and would sail through the Senate confirmation process.

Her nomination will be one of the first big changes for Obama to announce after Republicans won control of the Senate in congressional elections on Tuesday.

Lynch emerged as a leading contender after a previous top choice, former White House counsel Kathryn Ruemmler, pulled out of consideration amid concerns her involvement in controversial Obama administration decisions could complicate her confirmation.

Lynch is very well respected in both sides of the political divide.

Former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani praised the nomination of Lynch.

“I think Lynch is a superb candidate and is a step in the right direction. She is a superb prosecutor who is no-nonsense when doing her job, unlike Eric Holder, who was a polarizing figure in the administration”, Giuliani said in an interview.

Holder is known to be one of Obama’s closest allies. His tenure as attorney general was turbulent, clashing frequently with congressional Republicans over issues like gun control, same-sex marriage, and a desire to try terrorism suspects in civilian instead of military courts.

In one 2011 email released earlier this week, Holder referred to Republican members of the House Oversight Committee chaired by Darrell Issa as ‘Issa and his idiot cronies.’

Lynch is a Harvard Grad, who developed a close relationship with Holder through her work on the attorney general’s advisory committee, which she has chaired since the beginning of 2013.

In her first stint in the U.S. Attorney’s office she oversaw the prosecution of New York police officers who were convicted in connection with the torture of Haitian immigrant Abner Louima, an incident that became a national symbol for police brutality.

Recent cases her office brought include, several high-profile cases such as, the indictment, in April, of New York Rep. Michael Grimm, a Republican, several big corporate fraud cases, and helped investigate Citigroup Inc. over shoddy mortgage securities the bank sold, which led the bank to enter into a $7 billion settlement in July.

Lynch’s office also was involved in the December 2012 $1.2 billion accord with HSBC over the bank’s lapses in its anti-money laundering controls.

Prosecutors in Brooklyn are also investigating a member of Putin’s inner circle, Gennady Timchenko, in connection with an oil trading and money laundering probe.